Meeting Banner
Abstract #3986

Functional brain networks in schizophrenia: chain-like organization goes wild

Tommaso Gili1, Rossana Mastrandrea1, Fabrizio Piras2, Andrea Gabrielli3, Guido Caldarelli1, and Gianfranco Spalletta2
1IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy, 2IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Roma, Italy, 3UniversitĂ  degli Studi Roma III, Roma, Italy

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric condition, and is hypothesized to result from abnormal anatomical neural connectivity and a consequent decoupling of the brain’s integrative thought processes. Here we analysed and compared resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from forty-four schizophrenia patients (SZ) and forty healthy subjects (HS). Complex network analysis of brain functional connectivity revealed that SZ networks are characterized by more stable configurations with a lower level of flexibility of functional plasticity than HS networks, which may depend on an abnormal synaptic connectivity due to a dysfunctional cortical pruning.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here